Mexico may leave NAFTA if renegotiation unfavorable -minister

[January 24, 2017]  MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico could pull out of the North American Free Trade Agreement if a renegotiation of its terms does not benefit Latin America's second largest economy, Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo said on Tuesday.

Mexico's Economy Secretary Ildefonso Guajardo Villarreal listens as Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto (not pictured) announces a plan to strengthen the economics for families in Mexico City, Mexico January 9, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Jasso

"There could be no other option. Go for something that is less than what we already have? It would not make sense to stay," Guajardo said when asked on local television if Mexico could pull out of the trade deal with Canada and the United States.

U.S. President Donald Trump has vowed to withdraw from NAFTA, which took effect in 1994, if he cannot renegotiate it to benefit American interests.

Trump formally withdrew the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership on Monday and said he would renegotiate NAFTA "at the appropriate time."

Senior U.S. and Mexican officials will meet this week in Washington to discuss trade, security and immigration. Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto and Trump will meet at the end of January.

Pena Nieto said on Monday he will aim to preserve tariff-free commerce under NAFTA in talks with the new U.S. government.

NAFTA and other trade deals became lightning rods for American voter anger in the industrial heartland states that swept Trump to victory in the Nov. 8 election.

(Reporting by Veronica Gomez and Alexandra Alper; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Paul Simao)

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